The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • 11

Hollywood's Unheralded Heroes: The Stuntmen 5 1 1 ii r-'tiniirrMOliimtiWiiftiWlii rn in imftiWW'iiimiW 1 i I iirm A Ja Robotham rides it all the way into the ocean. His buddy was tossed out as part of the plot action. The Pacific Ocean in San Francisco is rarely, if ever, comfortable for swimming. plan the chase. I also did a car wreck scene in the new Twiggy movie, But who does he double? "I've survived these many years because I resemble so many people," is all Robotham will say.

None of the stuntmen have weight or fitness problems. On days off and weekends, they're on busmen's holidays. They work out at gyms, stage fights, do horsework, rent a car and do some skids. Red Morgan explains it: "The mental energy and T' "'iT'i It ill nw-f lifri'irfif it Stuntman-drivcr George Robotham prepares to take the plunge off the pier at the Port of San Francisco for a scene in the Ryan O'Neal-Barb-ra Streisand movie, "What's Up, Doc?" The brand-new car was purchased especially for the scene. It was totalled in less than a minute, had less than a mile on its odometer.

By Isobel Silden (Special Correspondent) HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. -Does he or doesn't he? Only his stuntman-double knows for sure if Mr. Big Star uses a substitute for his derring-do deeds in movies or television. There are 114 members of the Stuntmcn's Association in Hollywood. None will state for whom he works.

"I get a lot of jobs from all the big names I resemble. They wouldn't want me to shoot off my mouth that THEY can't ride a horse or spin a car," confides one stunt man who quickly adds: "Don't even use MY name:" He points out, "Production companies insist on doubles for their stars. If the star is thrown from a horse or injured in a car accident, production must close down at a staggering cost. If the stunt-man is hurt, he is covered by insurance, but the show can go on. It makes sense.

From the standpoint of IMAGE, stars don't like it known." Like doctors, stuntmen are specialists. Ked Morgan's specialty is working western. So is Walter Scott's. He also looks like Ryan O'Neal and Robert Redford, which doesn't hurt. George Rob-otham is a high man and a water man.

Max Kleven concentrates on car work and motorcycles. Car man Jerry Summers says, "I never turn down a stunt because it's too hazardous: Only if it's something I can't do, like drive a stagecoach. I won't jeopardize my own life or anyone else's simply for money." Stuntmen make good money, when they work. Years ago, when movie production was healthier, to qualify for membership in their association, a stuntman had to earn a minimum of $10,000 a year. "In the old days, you could pull down $25 to $40,000 a year.

Now $30,000 is a helluva year," says George Rob-otham. So the $10,000 minimum salary requirement has been waived. Screen Actors Guild basic scale for stuntmen is $138 per day. "Adjustments" are paid for the stunts they are called upon to do. A fight scene pays $200 to $250.

The fights are as carefully choreographed as any ballet, with punches definitely pulled. Falling off a horse once is $250. If the camera doesn't get the action to the director's satisfaction, or if he wants it filmed from another angle, the stuntman gets another $250. But if HE errs, he redoes the scene at no added fee. IN THE movie "What's Up, Doc?" former UCLA football player George Robotham drove a car off the San Francisco Pier.

It took him 20 seconds to get the car up to 65 miles per hour to drive the Vi mile into 40 feet of icy ocean; another 30 seconds to swim to the surface in his wet suit. He got $1,750 for less than a minute's work. He emerged with a scratch on his forehead. The car, a new $7,000 Cadillac, was totalled. High falls price out at $10 a foot to 50 feet.

Higher heights command higher pay. The stuntman negotiates with the director. A nameless-but-admired stuntman in New Or leans recently fell 106 feet onto air pads, catchers made of cardboard boxes with pads. "Good for him," comments Walter Scott. "Forty feet is as high as I'll go!" Money isn't everything to these men.

Their personal safety is. Red Morgan, former football player at USC, also played pro ball with the Washington Redskins. He then taught social studies and physical education in California high schools before becoming a stuntman. Morgan sums it up: "The most important things a stuntman has going for him are mental discipline and physical competence." Jerry Summers says: "We're not daredevils. We have to get up and do it again.

Rigging the stunt is 90 per cent of the work. I spent a week rigging a car for a ixv I 1 pressure on us are tremendous. We burn up adrenalin just THINKING i a stunt will work better if we do it faster or slower. A stuntman has to know what he's doing, when and where he's going to do it. Not only does his job depend on it, so does his life!" Jerry Summers' attitude about his profession isn't as serious.

"Whenever I'm asked the hardest stunt I've ever done, my answer is: Getting up in the morning to get to the studio on time. And that's the truth!" aloe The car, when it was towed out of the water, proves that even top-of-the line cars (this iswas a Cadillac) weren't built for high-speed dives. ome and Family I $4 Hfohttf The big hit, about 40 feet down. A tf) Hug- panty hose Zs'Ss November 26, 1973 Page 11 5-ft. 8-in.

165 pounds. got bones. 5-ft. 5-in. a gorgeous pounds shoes.

5-ft. 10-in. SLamm JUirfr. Heeler Monday, Cj) I'm and I ve big I'm and 115 with I'm I'm in nice ears a hug of a fit in 4 proportioned sizes (because one size can't fit all) movie recently. I've GOTTA make sure I get out alive." Summers' credits include a new movie, "The Sevens Up" in which he did a high speed chase; "Diamonds Are Forever," "Spartacus," "Darling Lili," the car chase in "Cleopatra Jones," and "The Outside Man" among others.

"Car chases are very big since he notes. Max Kleven, a member of the Norwegian Ski team until he came to America to ski and stayed in Hollywood to stunt, enjoys car work the most. He learned trick driving and spin-outs at a school in Riverside, California. "I set up all the stunts for the movie, and I did the car flips in 'Frasicr the Sensuous They were also used in the TV spots to promote the movie." Kleven's activities aren't limited to cars, however. He and Gene Hackman will be seen fighting a bear together in a new movie, "Zandy's Bride." "He was a big tame bear from Salt Lake City who didn't put up much of a fight," Kleven ruefully reports disappointment obvious.

"yHERE do stuntmen come from? Initially they start out as extras, nameless "faces in the crowd." Walter Scott's story is typical: "I was raised on a ranch in California. I've been around horses all my life. I worked rodeos and decided I wanted to get into pictures. I joined Screen Extras Guild, made friends on all the shows among the stuntmen, and they taught me everything they knew." Such camaraderie is normal among stuntmen. Scott says, "We'll help and teach anyone if he's a nice guy.

We're a FRATERNAL association. We live up to the description. If you came to me and said 'I want to be a I'd tell you to go learn to ride a horse, and then I'd teach you everything I know." Scott knows a lot. Among his recent movies are "The Cowboys," "The Culpepper Cattle Company," "Emperor of the North," "Buck and the Preacher," "Soylent Green," "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," and innumerable episodes of "Gunsmoke." The hazards of his job have been limited to breaking a little finger, once. Red Morgan, in the business since 1936 with over 5000 movie and TV credits, has had a broken nose, a slight con-cussion, a pulled groin muscle and a chipped small bone on his heel.

After World War II and service with the RCAF, Marine Corps and Navy, George Robotham returned to UCLA as a theatre arts-business-history major. He and a friend then went into the diving business, seeking abalone and salvage. They found the aba-lone, but none of the $32-miI-lion in gold bullion allegedly lurking for several centuries off the Pacific Coast. "Paul Stater, one of the great old-time stuntmen, wanted to learn diving. He came to us, we taught him, and he got us on a picture filming in Catalina, to read for parts as actors.

I saw the stuntmen made more money, so I decided to specialize in underwater work. There are only about a dozen of us in the business." Last year Robotham dried out: He was stunt coordinator on the Rock Hudson series, "MacMillan and Wife," planning the fights and car stunts. "I lay out the action and George Robotham as he normally appears calm, tranquil and unruffled. f) irN HA 2r-. A Alluring Styles Add smart fashion to outfits with brimmed fedora and soft hat plus scarf.

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